Have you ever hired a carpenter for built-in shelves and furniture?

Yes, and never again. He ruined all my bottled water.

Yes, he had a showroom and in the back a huge shop with a separate paint booth that was dust free. From a small side table to a glass front hutch and drawers the dining room. Delivered too !

Yeah, and it was uber weird! We hired him by the job to make new kitchen cabinets and countertops for us. He got about halfway done and suddenly we didn’t see him any more. We called, left messages, etc, but never got angry not so he could see anyway. Turns out we handled it right – he finally showed up and while finishing our cabinets, told us that he was going to take everyone’s money and move and wasn’t going to finish their jobs because they were assholes to him; but since we were the only people who had been nice he decided to finish our job. Whewww! Thank goodness!! We felt very lucky.

We loved the job he did, though. Navy faux marble countertops and cherry stained cabinets. Maybe not everyone’s taste, but it looked really good. It was a 78 year old farmhouse on 5 acres. Would I do it again? Yes, I think we did a background/reference check and he came out ok. You just never know what’s going to set someone off and change them.

It’s a whole lot cheaper to buy separately. But if money was no object I’d go with custom.

It’s really hard to find contractors around here. My brother was a contractor, but had to go on disability at age 60 due to a lifetime of putting so much strain on his shoulders, he can barely reach above his head.
Luckily I had most of the stuff I needed done by him before he retired.
But I needed my kitchen redone. It was original from 1958.
It took me a year to find someone that would actually come over and measure, etc. to get them to call back with an estimate was a whole other thing. I must’ve called at least 10 companies. Finally got one but his work was subpar and I wouldn’t recommend him or use him again.
So to answer your question, if I have to make it my part time job to get someone just to look at the job, then no, I’m not doing it.

Yes, I hired a carpenter/cabinet maker for new kitchen, bath, and laundry room cabinets. This was in the 90s. I was very very happy. I bought cabinets for my current home from an online store. They are all wood and the carpenter put them together adding his glue to every joint. They are beautiful as well. The custom ones were more expensive but I’m pretty sure I would use the same online store if I needed to redo another house.